Group Facilitation Client Comments

“Harley Consulting & Coaching was an outstanding organization to work with. The Minnesota Department of Health Diabetes Program developed a 10-year State Plan for Diabetes in 2002 and worked with Bill Harley to develop and facilitate the process. Bill Harley’s strengths included: providing technical expertise in designing a process for developing a state strategic plan, excellent facilitation skills, a remarkable ability to move large groups and small groups to reach consensus, an effective strategy for compiling and summarizing large amounts of data collected from brainstorming sessions, and skill in writing up summary results. Bill Harley has an exceptional ability to work with diverse groups of people with differing viewpoints and help them reach consensus on direction and mission. He facilitated 14 meetings statewide in 2001-2002 with over 200 diabetes stakeholders throughout the state. He also facilitated 10 work group meetings with five different topic areas and five Minnesota Diabetes Steering Committee meetings as part of the whole State Diabetes Plan development process. The key element that Bill Harley brings to his work is a highly professional, open-minded, low-key facilitation style, which encourages diverse groups of people who have strong and divergent opinions to respect each other and work towards achieving a common goal. Bill is also very flexible and can adapt to the changing needs of an organization or system as they arise. I highly recommend Harley Consulting & Coaching for any organization that is involved in strategic planning efforts to develop a mission, vision or strategic work plan.”

“Bill Harley’s group facilitation skills and depth of knowledge in the field of organizational change were clearly demonstrated through his work with my product development and manufacturing company. He effectively guided very diverse groups of people through difficult and sometimes controversial topics, resulting in strong consensus around the actions that need to be taken. Bill’s inclusive approach and his calm and focused nature make him a very effective change management coach.”

“I want to thank you and Jean again for your outstanding work on our large group interactive session on “Leading Change”. Our 125 managers and executives in attendance really received a shot in the arm from this insightful day and one-half session. Your extensive attention to detail in the planning process paid off for us. I was especially impressed with your sensitivity to our particular needs as an organization and your ability to weave the scientific and artistic approaches into the topic. Your flexibility in flowing with things was appreciated by our group. You were able to reach learners of various styles through both the lecture and extensive interactive elements. Our group especially needed those interactive elements and you structured the time to allow for that and did a marvelous job of facilitating the session. The response of the participants tells me that this package was an important one for our leadership group. Your willingness to extend yourself and your team by sticking around for the evening session after your presentation/ facilitation was over was a helpful part of you really tuning in to the needs of our audience and delivering just what they needed. Thank you, Bill, for sharing your expertise with our group. I hope to have the chance to work with you again very soon in the future.”

Michael Newman, Manager
Community and Human Resource Development
Minnesota Department of Human Services
St. Paul, Minnesota

“Bill Harley was instrumental in guiding the Food & Nutrition Service at the Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning to forge an innovative public/private partnership between the State of Minnesota and the food service industry. This unique partnership has resulted in higher quality food being served to Minnesota school children and over a million dollars in savings to Minnesota schools. Bill’s skills as a facilitator, focus group moderator, and coach were a key component in bringing together diverse groups of people (including school food service directors, students, food manufacturers, processors, brokers and distributors) to create win/win solutions for all stakeholders.”

“Our bank was fortunate to have Bill work as our facilitator for our annual strategic planning process. We wanted to use a comprehensive approach and gave Bill the challenge of leading us through the development of a new Mission Statement, Values Credo, as well as an overall set of Strategic Directions. Bill was an excellent facilitator. He was well organized and skillful at encouraging participation from our officers and supervisors in a non-threatening manner. The associates of Signal Bank have been most pleased with the results of our planning process. We are positioned well for the future, thanks to you.”

“Thank you again, Bill, for all you did with our Nutrition Advisory Committee. You make things happen! There is nothing in the world of Child Nutrition Programs more controversial than the food served and/or for sale to children for school lunch, breakfast, and in vending machines. Your process of consensus decision-making enabled our group to accomplish in a few months what other states and school districts cannot come close to in many years of meetings. It was especially satisfying to watch the process take a widely diverse group of people and solidify the commitment of each individual for the benefit of the entire group and, ultimately, for the health and well-being of Nevada’s children. The commitment continues. I continually get queries from the Nutrition Advisory Committee members as to when we can get back to work. I have absolutely no doubt that what we accomplished is due almost entirely to your facilitating and coaching us through this project. I hope we have the pleasure of working together in the future.”

“One of Bill’s greatest strengths is his ability to bring numerous (and somewhat divergent) perspectives and opinions to a point of consensus. This strength was evident throughout the planning process and was especially visible as the group worked on defining and articulating the organization’s values and internal mission—a process involving over twenty people. Bill has the ability to draw people out, to get their opinions, and to get to the heart of the matter. With Bill’s facilitation abilities, using a consensus building process, we were able to reach an agreement on these and other strategic issues important to the organization.”

Heidi Gesell, President
Cherokee Bank
St. Paul, Minnesota

“Bill is a phenomenal group leader. He has a keen ability to facilitate consensus from diverse and sometimes contending groups of people. He designs group processes to achieve specific results and the results are achieved. Bill helps groups to come to a unified purpose and gives them hope for the vitality and success of their organization. He is a consummate professional who takes his important role very seriously.”

“I am excited to share with you an update on our Team Guiding Principles in the aftermath of the group and individual coaching you did with us. I hired a new product manager recently and she started on Monday. Yesterday, the team met with her to indoctrinate her on our Guiding Principles. We went through each one and as we did so, there were many comments to the effect of, “Oh, we don’t need that one any more, we operate really well with that”. Of course we still need our Guiding Principles, but I think what it means is that we have truly moved beyond the event and are operating at a wonderfully functional level as a work team.

I’ve continued to manage the up-down-across communication flows, my task time and priorities, and my availability to my people. In addition, I’ve continued to acknowledge the good things that others do with my silly little blue ribbons. As evidence to what you had said about how silly things like that can mean a lot, yesterday one of our team members repeatedly described an achievement he had accomplished until another team member said, “Geez, man, what are you bucking for, employee of the month or something?” He responded, “No, I want one of those blue ribbons!” I happened to have one with me so I held an immediate mini-ceremony while everyone laughed and had a great time with it. He adhered the blue ribbon to his shirt pocket and wore it for the day. Hmmm, I thought, just like Bill said it would work.

I love that we have our Guiding Principles, I love that my team is so highly functioning and I am happy that my silly little blue ribbons are making a difference to people. Most of all, I am thankful for you when you told me, “We just need to get more of the real Julie to come out at work”. That was a wonderful assessment, and one that I am very happy with. Thanks, Bill, for having had a profound and forever lasting influence on my life. You have indeed made a difference in my life.”

Julia Heck, Director of Product Marketing

Skyline ExhibitsEagan, Minnesota

“I highly recommend Bill Harley as an excellent facilitator of organizational problem solving. He has worked with my group over the last year as both 1) A trainer of staff in improving relationships and 2) A facilitator of a smaller group charged with a highly complex problem, that was further complicated by staff’s strong, sometimes differing, personal values. My staff and I respect Mr. Harley. He has helped us improve our abilities to work together. As a facilitator, he has helped us to develop a new cleanup policy that is supported by all of our staff; this issue was previously a highly contentious one for us for a long time.”
Michael Kanner, Section Manager
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
St. Paul, Minnesota

“The customer-centered culture technology Bill introduced us to is very relevant to our quality initiative and our future success. He was extremely well prepared and effective in guiding us through the group assignments. The interactiveness of the training was very impressive–everyone was involved, but no one felt put on the spot.”

“I would highly recommend Bill Harley to any organization. Bill has been instrumental on our campus in helping groups in varying states of dysfunction and disarray move toward greater productivity and collaboration. He has unique abilities to help diverse and divergent groups move toward consensus and develop the ability to move forward in a respectful and professional manner.”
Loretta Lamb, Director of Human Resources
Minnesota State University
Mankato, Minnesota

“I want to thank you for the skillful way you facilitated the Adolescent Health experts’ workgroup to develop both a vision and action strategies for our Adolescent Health Action Plan project. You very successfully pulled together a diverse group of 45 people within this workgroup to develop these products. This was especially impressive since the workgroup members came from a wide range of professional backgrounds and geographic locations, in addition to having never worked together before. On top of this, you accomplished our workgroup goals in a timely and efficient manner. Had we done this process on our own, it would have taken significantly longer and I doubt if we would have achieved as comprehensive a product. Your skills and extensive experience contributed to the success of my workgroup. Thank you!

“Bill communicates ideas very dynamically and effectively. He uses excellent analogies, illustrates applications and does a very good job of keeping information flowing and involving participants. Very knowledgeable and easy to listen to.”

James L. Jordan, General Manager
American Paging
Appleton, Wisconsin

“Your strategic planning and values clarification work with our Board Members was outstanding. An effective facilitator should lead without being visible. You did an exceptional job!

“Thanks again for a very enlightening day of community building, team building and consensus building on organizational values and our action plan. When I think back on the day, I am amazed at what we accomplished and how at times it seemed easy. The easy part happens when you have an accomplished facilitator, which you clearly are.”

“Thank you for your services as facilitator in the first phase of the MnSCU Customized Training Network (CTN) strategic planning process. With accommodation to our rigorous timeline, your assistance helped us to meet our planning goals by establishing a CTN Values and Mission Statement, as well as a directional strategy and structural framework. Based on the foundation provided by your work with us, we have moved forward into the implementation stage with great confidence in a solid plan built on statewide consensus.”

“On behalf of the Advantage Minnesota Board of Directors, Executive Committee and employees, I thank you for the excellent service you provided to us. The planning process and meeting facilitation activities were highly focused and results-oriented. Your personal communication skills in our group sessions were very helpful in guiding us toward our new vision. We appreciate the professional services and courtesies you have provided to Advantage Minnesota.”